Word: settlements
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...AGREE WITH the majority opinion that Syria is the main stumbling block to foreign troop withdrawal from Lebanon. We concur that Syria has little interest in promoting a settlement. And we too believe that the United States should home the Marines as soon as the Lebanese government can assume adequate control over the country...
Some believe Arafat's defeat would actually pave the way lot a negotiated settlement since it would free Jordan's King Hussein from his 1979 commitment to honor the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinian people. Thus freed, they argue. Hussein could negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians...
Arafat has long been an anathema to those who view his terrorist tactics and steadfast refusal to accept Israel's existence as the obstacle to a negotiated settlement in the Middle East. Because of his intransigence, Arafat cannot expect (nor does be deserve) any country to come to his aid as his forces crumble in Tripoli...
There is little reason to believe, however, that Hussein would be eager to take up this responsibility, particularly in light of the fact that any comprehensive settlement would probably dictate offering at least some Jordanian territory for a Palestinian homeland. Furthermore, any settlement negotiated by Hussein would be meaningless if the PLO forces that now oppose Arafat did not endorse it--hardly a likely scenario. The extremist faction, through terrorist attacks, could easily disrupt tentative settlement...
...latest conflict, therefore, threatens to throw Middle East settlement attempts even farther off course. More tragic still, is that this battle for control of the PLO is being waged in Lebanon, where death and violence are in no short supply. Long plagued by internal conflicts between Druse and Syrianbacked Christians, Lebanon has become a battleground for external disputes as well. It was the Israeli invasion of Lebanon last summer and subsequent partial withdrawal this year that touched off the latest round of Christian-Drund warfare. Now the Syriann that once supported Arafat are backing his opponents in Tripoli, even...